Alex Churchill

Surprising piece in the NY Times today on the results of a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation that indicate that the average young American spends every waking minute outside of school using a smart phone, television, computer or other electronic device. Without examining the veracity of the study, the numbers seem surprising – even more surprising was a point that came up outside the study. Near the end of the piece:
Even during the survey, media use was changing.

“One of the hot topics today is Twitter, but when we first went into the field and began interviewing, Twitter didn’t exist,” Ms. Rideout said.

Clearly, real time research simply isn’t enough anymore. Research has to be “always on”. And conclusions have to be stream of conscience. Of course, for real scientists, this isn’t a method at all. But for marketers, not bound by the strictures of scientific rigor, this represents a great opportunity.

Back at my last job, there was a much ridiculed set of professional “steps” that we practitioners were to follow. The most ridiculed of all was “wiki to learn”. Now, despite not really understanding what that meant, we all got the gist. And I think the point was a good one – or at least contained the kernel of good pointedness – a kernel I would modify to “Wiki as research”. Because the only way to draw a map of the constantly shifting sands of media usage is to have it drawn in the sand itself.

But back to the Kaiser study – how would we get kids to engage? And stay engaged? Would there be any point at all in trying to keep them engaged?